


A Better Day

by Bluewolf458



Series: Days [3]
Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-29 23:24:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13937658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Matt needs his own room... but where will Blair sleep?





	A Better Day

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2018 Sentinel bingo prompt :sharing a bed'  
> Follows An Ordinary Day and A Not so Ordinary Day

A Better Day

by Bluewolf

It wasn't until they had arrived home with eight-year-old Matt Newman that Jim and Blair truly realized the magnitude of the responsibility they had taken on as the result of Jim's understanding of the boy's situation. But Blair unhesitatingly cleared everything from his room so that Matt would have his own space.

"I'll just go down to our storage area and get my sleeping bag," Blair said as Jim began to prepare the cheese sauce to go with the macaroni that was already beginning to boil. "Using it will be easier than making up a bed on the couch every night."

"I've got a better idea," Jim said. "My bed is bigger than the tent we use when we go camping. Why don't we just share the bed? We can always put a couple of pillows between us if that would make you feel more comfortable."

Blair grinned. "Or make you feel more comfortable?"

"The day I can't defend myself against a midget like you - " Jim mock-growled. And then his jaw dropped.

Blair looked at the startled expression on Jim's face. "What?" he asked.

"I just realized... it's still Christmas Day... and for the first time in twenty-five years... I've always called it 'an ordinary day' but for the first time in twenty-five years I've actually started treating it as one, joking with you... Joking! I can't believe it... "

"Maybe you've begun to realize that you have to put your own grief behind you for Matt's sake? It'll be hard for him for a long time, we both know that. But we want to keep him from being bitter about it - "

"The way I've been?"

"Though nobody guessed your problem... Keep stirring the sauce, man!"

"It's nearly ready." Jim turned the heat off and checked the pasta. "Maybe a trifle over-cooked... "

"I doubt any of us will worry about that." Blair quickly set the table while Jim went to get Matt.

All three were too hungry to worry about pasta that was no longer quite al dente. As he finished eating, Matt said, "Uncle Blair... "

Blair was slightly startled, but said encouragingly, "Yes?"

"Isn't that your room?"

"It was," he agreed. "Now it's yours."

"But where'll you sleep?"

"Well, when we've had visitors we've always given them that room and I've slept on the couch."

"But... From what Uncle Jim and Miss Marshall said, I'm not a visitor, I'm... " he hesitated.

"Our foster son," Blair said. "Or you will be, once all the paperwork is finished. So that's your room, and if we have a guest he or she will sleep on the couch."

"But you, Uncle Blair? Where will you sleep?"

"Well, your Uncle Jim and I sometimes go camping, and when we do we share a tent. It's a lot smaller than Uncle Jim's bed up there - " he pointed to the upstairs room - "so it'll be no bother at all for us to share the bed."

"And while this apartment is convenient for both Rainier, where Blair works - he's a teacher there - and the police station, where I'm based, we don't have to stay here," Jim said. "We could buy a slightly bigger house so that Uncle Blair has his own room again, maybe a house with a garden. But we don't need to rush into that. The important thing, for the moment, is that when Miss Marshall comes to check the apartment, you have your own room. She won't care if Uncle Blair and I are sharing a room."

"So... so I won't be a nuisance? Because... because I think that's why Dad walked out."

"Matt, if we thought you'd be a nuisance you wouldn't be sitting here now," Jim said. "You and I have one thing in common; and that gives us a bond. Now - I think we have some ice cream in the freezer. Want some?"

"Please."

Jim brought out the ice cream while Blair put the dirty dishes is the sink.

***

In bed that night, Jim said, "You know... I've been thinking. And I've realized... I've actually got Dad to blame for my attitude towards Christmas for all those years. Even though he married again - though it didn't last - he was the one who was worst hit when Mom died. He was the one who wouldn't let it go, who turned it into a time to mourn, every year. It got to be a habit... "

"So we want to make sure that while Matt doesn't forget his mother, he doesn't lose the joy of the season either."

"Yes. And so I'm thinking... The shops will be open again tomorrow; I'll phone Simon and get the day off, then let's take him out and buy him a couple of toys - "

"And a present for each other?" Blair asked.

"I don't need one," Jim said. "I've already been given one. I've been given back the joy of Christmas."

 

 


End file.
